Ram Temple Donation Theft: SIT's Explosive Report For Yogi Adityanath Today As Offerings Crash 90%

The Special Investigation Team probing the alleged theft of donations at the Ram Temple in Ayodhya is set to hand its findings to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday, capping a turbulent fortnight that has rattled both the Sangh Parivar and the Opposition alike. The three member panel, led by Lucknow Commissioner Vijay Vishwas Pant along with IG Range Kiran S and Special Secretary Neelratan, has so far questioned around 150 individuals, with roughly 25 likely to face action, including the possible removal of senior trust officials.

The probe, however, has run straight into a wall of its own making. CCTV footage from the temple's cash counting area is retained for only 45 days before being automatically wiped, and investigators have additionally found signs of deliberate tampering. The SIT is now banking on forensic recovery techniques to resurrect deleted or altered data, on the premise that recent manipulation may still leave digital fingerprints. Statutory auditors V Shankar Aiyar and Co and TCS had earlier flagged that ten chest boxes of gold and silver offerings were removed without corresponding accounting entries, a discrepancy that has only deepened suspicion.

Investigators have also recovered approximately ₹2 crore so far, while cash counting staffer Lavkush Mishra was arrested earlier this month after ₹10 lakh in unexplained cash, some of it bizarrely stashed under cow dung , was recovered from his residence. Separately, the SIT has widened its scope to scrutinise donation records from the Prayagraj Mahakumbh period, questioning how collections stayed below ₹100 crore despite more than five crore devotees visiting over 66 days.

The political temperature has risen sharply since Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav first alleged on June 7 that crores of rupees in offerings had vanished, a charge trust general secretary Champat Rai dismissed as routine, citing ongoing joint audits between trustees and State Bank of India staff. The clarification convinced almost no one. BJP leader Rajneesh Singh wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding a CBI or ED investigation, prompting the PMO to seek a report directly from the trust. Even within the saffron camp, Jyotirmath Shankaracharya Avimukteshwaranand took a direct swipe at Champat Rai's stewardship, while CM Yogi has urged all parties to await the SIT's findings rather than make unsubstantiated claims.

Meanwhile devotees appear to be casting their verdict with their wallets. Daily donation box collections, once ranging between eight and twelve lakh rupees, have crashed by over 90 percent to under one lakh rupees, even as footfall remains entirely unchanged, a curious contradiction that suggests faith in Ram remains intact even if faith in the trust's accounting does not. The government is now weighing the appointment of a senior IAS officer as Chief Executive Officer of the temple, modelled on the Kashi Vishwanath administrative structure, to tighten oversight going forward.

The episode is hardly without precedent. India's temples have repeatedly found themselves at the centre of similar donation controversies, the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam has faced repeated allegations over gold and laddu fund irregularities, the Sabarimala temple has seen recurring disputes over jewellery and gold ornament accounting, and Odisha's Puri Jagannath temple administration has weathered its own scandals involving missing treasury items. The common thread across these cases is strikingly familiar, opaque cash handling chains, outsourced counting processes, and audit trails that conveniently go cold exactly when scrutiny intensifies.

Built brick by brick from the donations of crores of ordinary Indians who gave whatever they could in the name of faith, the Ram Temple was meant to be a monument to collective trust, so when even that trust money cannot be accounted for, it leaves devotees asking who exactly they are supposed to believe anymore.